Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/250441 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14780
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
SMS information campaigns are increasingly used for policy. We conduct a field experiment to study information sharing through mobile phone messages. Subjects are rural households in Mozambique who have access to mobile money. In the baseline intervention, subjects receive an SMS containing simple instructions on how to redeem a voucher for mobile money. They can share this non-rival information with other exogenously assigned subjects unknown to them. We find that few participants redeem the voucher. They nonetheless share it with others and many share information about the voucher they do not use themselves. Information is shared more when communication is anonymous and we find no evidence of more sharing with subjects who have similar characteristics. We introduce treatments to increase the cost of sending a message, shame those who do not send the voucher to others, or allow subjects to appropriate the value of information. All these treatments decrease information sharing. To encourage information diffusion among strangers, the best is to 'keep it simple'.
Subjects: 
SMS information campaign
nudging
mobile money
anonymity
empathy
shared identity
JEL: 
D83
D64
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.82 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.